de facto 〖 ponyboy curtis 〗

nine.

Jo-Lynn

"Y'know, Terry said he and Diana saw you with some white kid," Calvin mentioned, looking at his little sister from the opposite side of the couch they shared. She really didn't feel like talking about this or lying again to anyone but she knew Calvin wouldn't leave the subject until he heard what he wanted. Jo sighed and turned her attention away from the movie playing on their black and white TV set which, ironically, was Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

"Yeah? What of it?"

"Well, what was it about?"

"Is this really your business?"

"Absolutely."

She knew he read her better than anyone else, even their mother, so she was just hoping he'd accept her story and let it go. "He gave me a book for a project for class."

No such luck for her. "Jo, those little lies may work on your friends but not me."

"Calvin, it's nothin', okay?"

"Yeah, that's why you lied about it, huh?" He sighed and she crossed her arms, sinking into the couch. It was more obvious than ever that she just wanted this entire conversation to disappear. "You like the guy?"

"Calvin, no! I just—we're sort of friends, okay? That's all."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!" Jo answers defensively, "We have English together and these guys used to pick at but he always apologized to me and he's never said nothin' bad about me. We started talkin' a little more from there, we've run into each other a couple times."

"Jo, It's cool if you like him--"

"But I don't like him. He's a nice guy, that's all."

"Why is it so hard for you to talk about?"

"Because it ain't true and I don't wanna talk about it."

Suddenly, it was like there was nothing else going on in the world but this conversation. The TV seemed silenced by the conversation at hand, the washer and dryer that were droning on in the hallway were drowned out by the tension she'd created. "Jo--"

"Can we stop?"

"No."

"What do you want to hear?"

"The truth." Her heart was racing and her fists were clenched due to her frustration, she hadn't yet realized that she hadn't admitted that she kinda was into Ponyboy. Jo didn't even realize that it was true yet. "You were in your room all night readin' that book and it took you four hours before even comin' out to tell us good mornin', was it really that good?"

Looking down at her hands, she replied, "He wrote comments on the sides of some and I reread the poems after reading what he said. Sometimes twice." She had a sliver of a grin on her face but it went away as soon as it appeared, "But that don't mean I like him."

"Jo..."

She knew that tone, the tone paired with the look, then add the tilt of the head. Why couldn't she just say it? "He's a great guy, Calvin, he's sweet, he waited at the park a few minutes away so he would have the chance of runnin' into me. Since this school year started, he apologized every day to me for those guys makin' comments at me, even after I told him to stop." Calvin listened with a small grin on his face because he hadn't heard his sister talk about anything in such a wistful way. "I think the kid's real oblivious, though; it's like he doesn't even realize that we're completely different."

"Completely different as in you're black and he's white?"

"Well, yeah."

"Maybe it just don't matter to him."

"But shouldn't it?"

Calvin shrugged his shoulders, thinking briefly to his time when he was sweet on this girl who worked with him. He remembered that he liked her for that same reason, it was like she didn't even see color. "If it's the real thing, then it don't matter. Shouldn't matter to you either. What does matter is that y'all respect each other."

Jo-Lynn sighed and suddenly, the tension had been cut and the topic had been lifted off her shoulders. "Why are you givin' me relationship advice? Shouldn't you be opposed to me ever datin'?"

"By now, you know a little better what you're doin'. You won't let nobody take advantage of you and that's all I care about."

"I'm glad you seem to understand because I've got nobody else to ask me about this, yknow? And mean it."

"Well, I care about you so whether I like it or not, I gotta know." Jo smiled and moved over to his side of the couch, giving him a big hug. "You gonna tell momma about your little boyfriend? Or Diana and them or anyone?"

Abruptly, she ended their embrace and looked at him as if he were crazy. "No. They'd kill me. Diana and Terry joke about it now but they wouldn't seriously be okay with it."

"I agree, actually. If y'all get serious, though, you start goin' steady, then you'll have to tell 'em."

Jo scoffed and stood up, heading toward the kitchen to get a drink for the both of them. "Says who?"

"You can't hide that stuff."

"Watch me, brother."

He rolled his eyes and stretched his legs out on the couch, he had a smug expression and she could tell he really thought he was right but she stood her ground. "Don't say I didn't warn ya', Jo-Lynn."